Kanye West was spotted last week wearing Donald Trump’s hat and a shirt supporting Colin Kapepernick, and now it appears he wants to make that pairing a reality. West has been saying a lot of things lately, mind you, but him claiming he wants to arrange a meeting between Kaepernick and Trump may be one of the sillier proclamations in some time.
Anything West says these days can be construed as an attempt to get attention in an effort to promote his album, or some kind of performance art he’s currently peddling in. But West, who also thinks the amendment banning slavery should be repealed, says he wants to put the two men at opposite ends of the culture war in the same room to, well, figure some stuff out I guess.
West gave an interview to TMZ earlier in the week explaining his plan, or at least his intent to engineer this meeting in some way. Kaepernick said he wants the two sides to work some of their issues out. Given Trump’s nature and how much he’s criticized Kaepernick over the last two years, well, it would be a long meeting.
Trump has been highly critical of Kaepernick since he began his nonviolent protest against police brutality of people if color more than two years ago. The protest, and Trump’s outcry and criticism of black athletes and the NFL, has been a hot issue in the league and has effectively seen Kaepernick forced out of work.
Kaepernick, for his part, has not criticized Trump, instead quietly donating his time and money to helping minorities and those less fortunate. Trump has continued to hammer the NFL on the kneeling issue, and has continued to use dog whistle attacks against athletes of color in the interim.
This might shock you, but Trump criticized Nike’s use of Kaepernick in an ad campaign as well. He’s been highly critical of Kaepernick’s decision to kneel in an effort to protest police violence against people of color. What I’m saying is that, well, it doesn’t seem like a meeting between the two would do all that much, but bless Kanye’s heart for, uh, trying I guess.
